Many fantasy owners panicked instantly when Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles went down after a non contact injury. Looking at the game footage, Charles looked to be making a cut and his knee appeared to buckle. His knee appeared to bend inwards and instantly fantasy owners panicked. Currently Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is panicking that Charles may have torn his ACL and will be done for the season. This will effectively end Charles’ season if he tore his ACL and will end the the Chiefs season. Fantasy owners are now completely thrown into a loop about who to start and who to add if Charles is done for the year. Hopefully the injury was not that serious and we do not see the number 2 fantasy running back go down.
Replacing Charles
There is no correct answer to replacing Charles simply because it is Jamaal Charles there is not a Chiefs running back that is as good as him. Charles is a no doubt top NFL running back and plugging up the holes in fantasy rosters will now be a challenge. Owners looking to take a Chiefs approach can target Knile Davis (owned in 23.5% of ESPN Leagues) or Charcandrick West (owned in 0.3% of ESPN leagues). Both of these running backs will not be nearly as effective as Charles was and will likely share touches going forward. West will likely be the more valuable of the 2 in a PPR league simply because Davis was targeted as a pass catching back prior to the Charles injury. Davis is more of a special teams player that will get his value if he returns any punts or kick offs. I personally do not like either of the Chiefs running backs in this scenario because they will share touches and neither are that impressive. If you are not looking to take a handcuff some guys worth targeting are David Johnson (owned in 52.5% of ESPN leagues), Duke Johnson Jr. (owned in 64.3% of ESPN leagues) or Marcel Reece (owned in 1.4% of ESPN leagues). Marcel Reece is certainly the biggest sleeper of the 3 because he is relatively unknown but can certainly become fantasy relevant if he plays well again next week. David Johnson is Arizona’s young up and coming running back who tends to get goal line touches in most Cardinal games.
Fantasy Landscape
The “Power 5 running backs” have really not worked out for most people so far this season. Eddie Lacy has been banged up and not scoring a ton of points, Marshawn Lynch has been a total bust and now if Charles goes down that leaves only Bell and Peterson to prove the worth of the power 5. Charles was the second ranked running back this season and now with his leg injury the landscape completely shifts. I personally am a huge believer in the value of wide receivers and so far most of my top wide receivers have played well. This fantasy season may be the year that many people shift from a running back based team to a receiving core that will win them games. I personally would not like to have a 2/5 chance of getting a great running back and a 60% chance of choosing a bust. Receivers are currently dominating with guys like Julian Edelman, Julio Jones, and Antonio Brown are shredding opposing defenses. Brandon Marshall has rebounded from a tough season with Chicago in 2014 and now in 2015 looks elite once again. A.J. Green has also bounced back from a tough, injury plagued season in 2014 and is once again on top. Running backs have proven to be hard to draft and inconsistent so far this fantasy season. If there was a season for the landscape of fantasy to shift, it is this season.
Verdict
Jamaal Charles is essentially irreplaceable and no Chiefs player will do as well as Charles has this season. Fantasy owners who drafted Charles will likely be eliminated from contention immediately simply because Charles will not play for the rest of the season. Head Coach Andy Reid said preliminary reports are that Charles tore his ACL. if these reports are correct then fantasy owners who drafted Charles will be hurting going forward.